The Forsaken Mate

Chapter Fifteen.

Over the past couple of days I’d developed a way to cope with the heat; every time it became almost unbearable, I would hop into an ice bath and sit there until the ice melted. This usually kept it at bay for a few hours and worked fairly well.

I knew that Will felt insulted but right now I didn’t care; he would leave in a few days and my heat would be over in 48 hours and it the end couldn’t come sooner!

“Hey we’re going for a swim, do you want to come?” Keegan asked, bounding into my room. I set down the book I’d been reading and smiled. “Sure, let me get my bikini.”

I grabbed my fire truck red two piece with ruffles on the top, a pair of sunglasses and a towel. There was a huge lake that the pack used as a giant swimming pool and though it didn’t get extremely hot in Spain, it was a beautiful sunny day; the perfect day for a swim and the perfect way to end my heat.

I ran to the lake and dumped my stuff on the pier, jumping into the water where Keegan and his friends were as well as many of the guy I’d been training with.

The cold water hit my hot skin and I nearly sighed in relief.

Surfacing I watched as some of the guys began hitting around a volleyball.  I joined in and soon we had a huge game of pool volleyball going.

Caleb came running out and bomb dived into the water next to me and surface grinning. “Dad’s decided to throw a pack barbeque.”

I nodded and jumped into the air, spiking the ball. “Cool, I’m starved; is it a cook out?”

He nodded and splashed me. “Yep, bonfire, beer and steak.”

-

I watched the glow of the fire as the flames licked the starry night sky. “Here.” I turned my hand to see Will holding a sausage wrapped in bread on a blue napkin.

“Thanks.” I said taking a bite as he sat next to me holding a beer. “So what’s been happening?” I asked, trying to break the awkward silence. The tension between us was so thick I could’ve cut it with a butter knife.

“You’re still in heat.”

I nodded and took a sip of the beer sitting at me feet. “So I am.”

“Why won’t you let me help you?” He asked sadly. I wanted to laugh; he was a nice guy but just like the rest he wanted sex. I didn’t want anyone else marking me and the easiest way to avoid it is to avoid being intimate with anyone because they’d want to bite me.

And I told him exactly that; though he seemed offended. “I have more control than you give me credit for!” He paused and looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time and I got a little freaked out I’m not going to lie. “Would it really be so bad being my mate? I’d look after you, provide for you, keep you safe. You wouldn’t have to worry about the future of your father’s pack and you wouldn’t have to go through another heat.”

As he spoke my frown kept getting deeper and I actually wanted to hit Will; it was insulting to hear what he was implying. That I couldn’t run a pack, that I couldn’t take care of myself and others, that I wasn’t strong enough to withstand the heat; I’d been told these things by males my whole life and I was sick of it!

I growled and shook my head. “This is why I don’t want a mate; just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I can’t run a pack or look after myself!” I hissed at him. “I don’t need a mate, least of all you.”

He looked offended but also pretty regretful. “I wasn’t saying you couldn’t, I was just saying wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to share your problems with? To lean on when times got tough?”